Pen Pals
by booknerd333
Summary: Maximum Ride has lived in the same place, had the same friends, and hated the same person all her life. What happens when the hated person becomes her best friend without her even knowing? AH.
1. Chapter 1

"MAX!" my mom yelled at me, but I couldn't hear her. I was too busy dancing around and singing like an idiot to my ipod. "MA-AX!" I absolutely loved music. It was my escape from everything, and right now I needed a good escape. I was starting my sophomore year today and I was so _not _excited.

"Max!" my mom's voice called from the door. She started banging on the door so I strolled to the door lazily and opened it for her.

"Yeah?" I asked, taking one ear bud out of my ear.

"Nudge is here," she informed me. I nodded and grabbed my backpack, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Have a great day sweetie!" she called as I ran down the stairs and out the door.

"Are you excited, or are you excited?" Nudge asked me, well, excitedly as I slipped into the passenger seat.

"I pick the third one," I replied, pulling my blonde highlighted hair into a pony tail.

"Aw, come one. You weren't excited for being a freshman and you weren't excited when we started middle school either. Think about, after this year we are halfway through high school!" she batted her eye lashes at me. I laughed at her face and put my legs up on the dashboard.

"You have a reason to be excited, but I don't really."

"You do too! Uh… let's see, you get to be in classes with me this year! That's something to be excited about," she struggled for ideas. I snorted.

"Yeah, I was in classes with you last year too, babe."

"How about this: you're going to ruin my mood! I'm so excited I have classes, _finally, _with Iggy and you're going to make it seem awful," she reminded me.

"I was going to ruin it anyways," I smiled innocently.

"Please, you promised not scare this one away," she pouted, giving me bambi eyes. You see, I had a _slight_ tendency to be protective. Let's just say last year I earned the nickname "Mama" from our group. Knowing Iggy I'm surprised he didn't call me "Papa."

"Keep your eyes on the road," I warned, "Plus, Iggy and I are friends. He knows I don't bite," I smiled toothily at her. She rolled her eyes and make the sign of the cross. I stuck my tongue out at her. She had liked Iggy forever and was so glad to find out he was interested in her. That was the target of my teasing, obviously.

"Crap, we're going to be late," Nudge said, looking at her clock and accelerating, while fixing her perfectly straightened hair in the mirror.

"Whoa! Slow down there cowgirl. We have fifteen minutes," I pointed out.

"We're going to be late to meet Ella," she corrected.

"I think she wouldn't mind us getting to school alive." Nudge was not my most favorite driver, but she had an early birthday and mine was late, so until the end of September she was my designated driver. She made a sharp turn into the school parking lot.

"Wow, how about we don't give Max a hear attack, huh?" I asked sarcastically and she hit the brakes hard.

"Come on, Maxie," she ignored my comment, "Let's find Ella." With that we were off to start our first day of school. YAY! Please, note my negative tone.

"Max!" Ella rushed up to me with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey, El," I patted her back as she hugged me. I wasn't a hug-ger.

"Guess what?" She squealed, still smiling.

"Let me see…did you sleep with a hanger in your mouth again?" She looked at me confused, but the smile was still there. I chuckled at her expression. Ella was a cute girl, she had the whole dark hair, dark eyes thing, but the expressions she gave you were so hilarious. "Nevermind, tell me."

"I got the principal to agree to my proposal!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands.

"What proposal?" I asked. Ella was very involved in the school activities. She was secretary of the student council and in all honors classes. She was also probably the smartest person I knew. The only problem with that was that she would shoot ideas right and left and I could hardly keep up with them. Half the time I had no idea what she was talking about.

"The idea?" she urged. I shook my head at her. She sighed dramatically, "_Fine_. I'll explain it. So, last year before school ended I had this genius idea! My idea was that we have this 'pen pal' system with all of the students," she smiled, like it was the best idea in the world.

"I don't get it," I admitted. I didn't mention the fact that I never got her ideas without at least an hour explanation, but I'll save that confession for later.

"What we do is that we all get this private e-mail account and a completely anonymous user name. Then, we're assigned a pen pal who we write to, without revealing our identity, about anything. I read about one time and heard it was supposed to be a fun and encouraging for us all," she finished, saying the last park with fake enthusiasm.

"Hmm, sounds interesting," I commented.

"You say that when you aren't listening."

"No, no, I was listening. Anonymous pen pals, e-mails, fun, and all that jazz!" I exclaimed in mock excitement. She shook her head at me in the 'tsk, tsk' way.

"Come one, let's head to homeroom and make sure Nudge isn't torturing Iggy too much." We both smiled at that thought. Me, because Iggy and I were friend-imies, and Ella because she also had a crush on Iggy.

As we searched for the right room I was once again amazed at how easy it was to get lost in this school.

"Hey, Max, heads up. Ang-fay at twelve o'clock," Ella whispered. I shot my head up and immediately caught his eye. I pursed my lips and purposefully walked quicker.

"God, he is so cute. Why do you hate him again?" Ella asked me for the quintillionth time.

"You know why," I mumbled. Fang Wren was my least favorite person in the world. But, we'll get to that later.

"All right," She sighed, stopping at a door, "Here we are."

We walked in to find Nudge talking animatedly to a smiling Iggy. I felt bad for Ella, but I knew this other guy that liked Ella a lot, and truthfully, he was a lot better for her. Of course, I would never pass up the chance to tease.

"Ella!" I said in a stage whisper, "That is not true! Nudge does not have a crush on Iggy!" Iggy's pale face turned into a tomato and Nudge giggled nervously. I winked at them. Iggy ran a hand through his strawberry blonde hair and bowed.

"Ah, Maxwell, it's been too long," Iggy said, trying to recover. His face still resembled a tomato, though.

"Same here, Ignus," I smiled and returned the bow. Iggy was a great guy, really, we just have always teased each other. Then, when I found out that he like Nudge I decided to have a little fun with that.

"I saved a seat just for you Maxie!" He said in a purposefully feminine voice, clapping his hands.

"Aw, you're too sweet, but Ig, there's a person in my seat!" I smiled at the red head in my seat.

"Hey hon, could 'ya scootch? You're in my seat," I asked. She looked at me challengingly.

"I was here first," she said in angry voice.

"First is the worst, second is the best," I sang. She looked like she was going to say more, but decided against it. Instead, she got up and moved.

"Thanks sweetie pie!" I called across the room.

"Who's that?" I whispered to Nudge, who had been comparing outfits with Ella.

"That's Lisa Landers. Don't you remember her?" She asked me.

"No," I shook my head, struggling to remember.

"She used to have big glasses and braces. She's okay. A little mean, but I don't blame her. Everyone was awful to her last year." Nudge explained.

"Oh, okay," I said and turned back to everyone else. We all chatted a little about summer and I managed to tease Nudge a little more before the teacher called attention.

"Okay class, today we will be picking partners…" And my first day of sophomore year began.


	2. Chapter 2

"**Max!" I jumped at the voice and turned to find Ethan standing behind me.**

"**What do you want Williams?" I asked him.**

"**Nothing. Just wanted to say hi. I haven't seen you in forever," he smiled.**

"**Ethan, you saw me last week at your parents bar-be-que," I informed him.**

"**I missed you Maxie," he said sarcastically. Ethan was apparently dubbed an 'appropriate' friend by my parents. They didn't mind Iggy, Ella, and Nudge, they just didn't know their parents. Ethan's parents were pretty close with mine, therefore I had to suffer his obnoxious-ness. According to Nudge he was 'adorable,' but I didn't find his constant "So, Maxie, are going to finish where we left off?" that adorable. **

**You see, last year I had (and I'm admitting this reluctantly) a big crush on Ethan. Anyways, we were at his birthday party and he kissed me and I ran away. Ever since then I've found him pretty annoying, but he's convinced I'm playing hard to get. **

"**Well, I guess you'll be forced to wait still," I said, walking towards the cafeteria. **

"**Come one Maxie, give me another chance!" He said dramatically. I snorted, looking back at him, but then I ran into something. **

"**Ow!" Turns out the something was a **_**someone. **_**Oops. **

"**I'm sorry! Are you-" then I realized who it was. **

"**I'm fine," Fang said forcefully, brushing his overlong black hair out of his equally dark eyes. I bent down to help pick up both of our books. **

"**Here," I handed him a few stray papers.**

"**Thanks," he mumbled and handed me my book. With that, I got up and walked to the cafeteria. **

****

"**Class, please sit down. Clam down class," Mr. Sidder called us to attention. Well, he **_**tried**_** to call us to attention. This was the class that everyone thought they could blow off. Mr. Sidder was a new teacher so people thought he didn't know what he was doing.**

"**Okay, please log into your school accounts. When you get on there will be a file with a name and a link. You are not to tell anyone your name or your e-mail address…" and he went on to explain Ella's idea. My user name was M44. I know, so boring! **

"**I want everyone to write their first e-mail to the designated person on your sheet of paper I have handed out." The person I was writing to was N64. **

"**Uh, Mr…dude. What do we write about?" A confused boy asked.**

"**What ever you want. You favorite color, movie, what you think about school," he explained. I sighed. Yeah, like this person would be very interested in that. I guess I need the good grade. **

**Dear N64 (You know, I don't like calling you that so if you could come up this a different name! That would be great ****J****) **

**Anyways, my name is M44, but my friends call me the M-Bot for short. No, I'm not serious. But you can call me… hmm, I'll actually think on that one. So, my favorite color is green and I love the movie George of the Jungle. I have one little brother and I am a sophomore (I think I can tell you that). I think that school is too boring and that once I get out of here I'm going to travel the world looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I only listen to music that is at least ten years old. What about you? What's your favorite color? **

**Your Pen Pal,**

**Bored with Life.**

**I figured that was a good start. I was actually a little interested in what N64 would say back to me. I wondered if it was boy or a girl. Maybe this could be fun…**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm still trying to figure out how to not turn the letters bold and underlined, so sorry if that does happen! Anyways, I'm not really sure if a disclaimer is mandatory or not, but I hope that you can all infer that I'm not James Patterson. Also, I would like to know if you guys think I'm portraying Max correctly because I would hate to mess up Max! Thanks! Enjoy! **

Dear Bored with Life,

My favorite color is black, but I'm not Emo. I just like black. I am a sophomore as well. My favorite movie is anything with Steve Martin in it because those are the only movies my parents watch. I have a little brother and a little sister. Both of them are the complete opposite of me. After I get out of school I plan to actually _be_ something in life. I don't want to be a run of the mill person. So I'm thinking I'll start out with working at McDonalds. (Don't worry, that was supposed to be a joke). I like the Beatles a lot, but there are good bands from this generation also. What's your take on school?

Your Pen Pal,

Looking for a Life (I hope that doesn't sound to depressing)

P.S. Look no further, my mom makes the best cookies.

I logged off of my e-mail account at the end of class after deciding to answer this e-mail later. I had a certain feeling that this was a guy. I don't know why, but it just seemed right.

After computer class I had science, which was my worst subject. I've always been more of the English type person, don't know why, but I didn't like science. I also really didn't like that fact that when I walked into the lab I saw that Fang Wren was in my class. I _did_ like the fact that Iggy was in that class as well. I had Iggy last year in science and it was absolutely hilarious to watch him experiment. Well, of course Iggy didn't find it hilarious when he almost burnt his eyebrows off, but I guess the glass is half empty.

"Maxie!" He squealed all girly-like and waved his hand at me. I returned it with just as much fake enthusiasm.

"OMG Iggy, babe! We have, like, the exact same class! That's, like totally…awesome!" I said in a valley girl voice.

"You got it, toots! Let's show these people a thing or two about blowing things up!" By the end of this sentence you could see Iggy was actually excited about science. This is why he tutors me.

"Not so fast, big guy. I can't get suspended, but if you would like me to _accidentally_ spill something into something else…" I trailed off as the teacher turned around from her chair.

"Welcome class," she said. She didn't seem so welcoming herself. She looked like one of those older teachers who didn't look like she enjoyed teaching anymore. "Now, I can already see some problems forming," I could have sworn she looked at Iggy and me, "so I have decided to make a seating chart." We all groaned loudly.

"Now, now, this class isn't about friends, it's about learning," I resisted the urge to snort. "But, I will let you all sit with whoever you're by at the moment. Just for today." I smiled at Iggy and he returned it.

"Okay, now we will turn our textbooks to page 46..."

**(I am trying to figure out how to make a page break, so this will have to do for now)**

"Guess what, girlies?" Ella asked us as we were walking towards Nudge's car.

"The mole people are trying to take over?" I asked jokingly. Nudge gave me a funny look and asked Ella what the news was.

"I am going to be a candidate for sophomore class president!" Ella exclaimed

"Wow, that's so cool El," Nudge said. I agreed, but I was still confused.

"They do that _this_ early in the year?" I asked. They both gave me funny looks that I didn't bother to interpret as we all climbed into Nudge's car. Ella's mom had dropped her off, not trusting her with the car. Now that I didn't get because I trusted Ella much more with my life in driving than I did Nudge.

"So how was everyone's day?" Nudge asked us all, sincerely curious.

"It was pretty darn good," Ella replied, "I figured out about the candidate thing and then we got our pen pals."

"Yeah, I got mine too. I think it'll actually be pretty cool. What if we had, like, each other? That would be so totally ironic! But then again, what if we had a complete stranger? Then, what if we met them and they were so not what we expected? That would be so weird! But, cool at the same time. You know, I've never got that, how things can be weird and cool at the same time. I mean, if it's weird then it could be kind cool, but if it's cool then I don't see how-"

"Nudge!" Ella and I shouted. She smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry," she mouthed and we all started cracking up.

"I thought the Nudge Channel was muted for the day," I smiled at her. She had these unfortunate tendencies to go off on long rants. I always asked her why I had cable when I had her. It was one of those things I was so used to I didn't pay mind to. There were actually a lot of things like that.

The rest of the car ride Ella and I chatted while Nudge tried not to exceed her word limit for the day. The three of us lived in neighborhoods that were lined up against one another. First Ella's, then mine, then Nudge's.

"Bye Nudge, see you in the morning!" I called as I rushed to the front door and searched for my key. I unlocked the door as Nudge pulled out of the driveway.

"Max!" Ari came barreling into the room out of nowhere. I smiled and caught him before he went headfirst into the door.

"Hey sweetie, where's mommy?" I asked my adorable blonde and blue eyed seven year old brother.

"In the kitchen. And she's mom now," he said really seriously.

"Oh, she's mom now? Why's that?"

"Well, my friends, they said…they said that we don't call our mommies mommy anymore. And then they said that our daddies should be dad now also," he explained.

"Does mom know about this?" I asked him.

"I'm gonna tell her!" he exclaimed, his adorable face lighting up.

"Okay," I replied and followed his galloping steps into the kitchen.

**(This is the page break again and I promise I'm going to figure out how to make one!)**

Dear Looking for a Life,

Your name's not too depressing, I mean mine's not exactly a pocket full of sunshine (no reference intended). You ask hard questions, hon. My take on school? I think that teachers aren't preparing us enough for the real world. There are fights and drugs and weapons in the real world and there are so many bad things that we aren't supposed to mention. You know that song, Real World, by Matchbox 20? Sometimes I feel that way about life. I love Steve Martin also, but my parent's like more "Italian" movies, I guess you could say. We've watched Good Fellas too many times! Black is a good color. It's on my list of top five colors (remind me to share that with you sometime). How are your brother and sister complete opposites? Micky D's is a good place to start. It gives you respect for the people who eat there! (that was a joke too) The Beatles rock, obviously. Am I allowed to ask if you're a boy or a girl?

Your Pen Pal,

Bored with Life

P.S. I'll be the judge of the chocolate chip cookies.

I swiveled in my rolly chair as I finished the last of my homework. Teachers gave out homework on the first day of school! Or at least that science teacher did. Mrs. Lennox, that's her name.

I let my mind wander a bit and it landed on my least favorite subject. I don't know why Fang came into my head, but he did. I wondered how his day went. I also wondered if he hated me as well. I was sure he did. I mean, I had to have revenge, so I was almost positive he hated me for what I did. That bothered me a little. It shouldn't have though. _No loss_. I thought, trying to convince myself. Only problem is that I'm not very good at convincing.

**Criticism is welcome, ideas are loved, and reviews are treasured!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**The next morning I checked my e-mail, but there weren't any from the "Looking for a life." I then proceeded to get dressed in my usual attire that was deemed unsuitable by Nudge. She had yet to get her hands on a shopping trip with me, so I figured my wardrobe was safe for the moment.**_

"_**Max?" a small voice sounded from my closed door. It was Ari. I put on my "little brother" smile and opened the door.**_

"_**What's wrong sweetie?" I asked him. He looked up at me with a worried face.**_

"_**I had that bad dream last night," He told me, his eyes widening even more. **_

"_**Which one?" **_

"_**The one where I'm pushed into the stream," he informed me. I pursed my lips and shook my head. As a child he had those night terror things where the kid wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. As he got older it turned into awful nightmares that started getting worse after a particular incident with someone I will no not name at the moment. **_

"_**Okay, did you tell Mom?" I asked him. He shook his head.**_

"_**No, I just wanted you to know. Mommy-I mean Mom, makes me take medicine."**_

"_**Well, I won't tell Mom unless they keep repeating, okay?" I compromised with him.**_

"_**Deal," he agreed. I smiled at him and gave him a small hug. **_

"_**Okay, Ari, time to get ready for school," I pushed him gently to his room so he would be motivated to get dressed. **_

"_**Thanks Max!" he exclaimed, running the rest of the way to his room. I sighed and headed downstairs into the kitchen. My mom was sitting at the breakfast table, probably doing her e-mails. **_

"_**Everything alright, honey?" She asked me as I walked in. **_

"_**Yeah, why?" **_

"_**You just looked stressed," she commented. **_

"_**No, no. I just lost my I-pod." I lied. "Mom? When does Dad get home?" I asked her, discreetly changing the subject. **_

"_**Friday," She replied. I nodded and headed over to the refrigerator. My dad worked for a huge business company that made him travel half of the year. Every summer he took a week of for his 'Staycation' at home, but other than that he was either on a business trip, or stressed and at home. **_

"_**We have cereal in the pantry," Mom said. I smiled when I saw the Cocoa Pebbles Ari must have picked out. I grabbed a bowl and downed it in record time, then went to brush my teeth. **_

"_**Nudge!" my mom called. **_

"_**My name is Max!" I called back at her, but grabbed my backpack and headed out the door. **_

_****_

"_**Who's Ella with?" Nudge asked me, pulling into a parking space. **_

"_**A person," I answered vaguely, inspecting my chipped nails. **_

"_**Thanks for the info. Come on, let's go!" She exclaimed excitedly, pulling me out of the car. We headed over to Ella and the auburn haired girl.**_

"_**Hey, Ella! Who's that? Is she new? Isn't it kind of weird to already have a new person on the second day of school? I mean, unless you had like another day to unpack or something, but having an absence doesn't really start your year off great," The girl's face was amused as Nudge continued on. **_

"_**Hi! I'm Nudge, I don't know if Ella told you about me or not, because you might not know Ella that well. Maybe you do, but that would be awesome if you hung out with us today! We would show you around, even though we're only sophomores, but that's okay, because you're one too! Wait, you are a sophomore, aren't you? We would still show you around if you were a freshman…not that you look like one or anything, it's just-" **_

"_**I'm sorry, Nudge is not available at the moment," I insisted, covering Nudge's mouth with my hand. "I'm Max," I held out my hand that wasn't keeping Nudge quiet. **_

"_**I'm JJ," she smiled and shook my hand. **_

"_**Yeah, sorry about Nudge, we figured she was dropped on her head as a baby," Ella said with a smile, meaning she didn't really mean it. "Okay, guys, this is JJ-"**_

"_**Thank you Captain Obvious," I said sarcastically, removing my hand from Nudge's mouth. Ella gave me a look, but continued.**_

"_**Anyways**_**, she went to Eastside Prep last year, but decided to go to public school. I met her over the summer at the daycare we were working at." Ella was also a big volunteer person. **

"**Yep, I wasn't here yesterday because we just got back from vacation," JJ explained. **

"**Awesome. Well, you might like it here, but, I mean, it's **_**school**_**," I told her.**

"**Max is the optimistic one," Ella said seriously, patting me on the back.**

"**That's me," I smiled. **

"**Ha, if Max is optimistic, then what am I?" Nudge asked.**

"**Insanely obsessed with everything colorful, shiny, and happy," I told her. She nodded her head, like she thought that sounded about right, then lead the way to the front door. Nudge began chattering and filling JJ in on all of the more shallow statistics at our beloved school. Things such as cliques and people Nudge thought were stuck up. **

"**-and make sure you stay away from Vick and his crew. They are awful! They may not be seniors yet, but boy are they just…well, awful. Anyways, we like Lindsey and her group, they're like the sporty ones, but we do not hang out with the boy's who play soccer-" Nudge rambled on. **

**JJ apparently had first period with us because she walked into the room and sat down next to Ella. I pretended to doodle, but actually listened to them. Nudge was preoccupied by the Iggy sitting behind me. **

"**Why don't you guys hang out with the boy's soccer team?" JJ asked Ella quietly.**

"**There's this guy, Fang, who Max **_**really**_** hates on the soccer team. It's not like she issued that as an order or anything, we just decided not to," Ella explained.**

"**Why does she hate him?" I felt them both glance over at me.**

"**I'll tell you at lunch."**

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**3rd**** person POV**

**Two darker haired girls sat down at a lunch table with a tall, pale boy, and a brown skinned girl. They all looked the same age, but someone was missing. The assumed leader of their group, Max, was staying behind in the library to finish some homework. **

**All of the kids gathered around the Hispanic looking girl, Ella, to listen. She was going to tell the newest addition of the group, JJ, Max's story. Ella didn't really want to. She had put all of it behind her a long time ago, but she knew that she have to tell JJ one way or another. **

"**Okay, so Max hates Fang. What did he do? Cheat on her or something?" JJ asked. She had been a little critical of Max since she met her. JJ wasn't a big fan of girls who thought they were super tough and sarcastic. Max was obviously that and JJ didn't have a lot of pity for her. **

"**No, Max doesn't date," Iggy told her.**

"**Yet," Nudge chimed in hopefully. Ella smiled at the two of them, ignoring her urge to mentally criticize Nudge. It was not her place to be mad at Nudge. She had never told her that she, too, had a crush on Iggy.**

"**So, the story. A long time ago-"**

"**In a land far, far away," Iggy continued with a smile.**

"**Iggy!" Ella scolded, irritated. She wanted to get the story over with. **

"**Sorry," he smiled sheepishly. She gave him a look and continued.**

"**About four years ago Fang was a part of our group. We all had been friends forever and all of that stuff. Max and Fang had been really close, probably the closest of all of us. They were best friends. Max has a little brother, he's seven now, but was three then. His name is Ari. Anyways, Ari was Max's favorite person, pretty much. She adored her little brother and he adored her."**

"**And Fang loved Ari too," Nudge added.**

"**We all do," Iggy agreed.**

"**Exactly. So what happened really shocked us. We were all going on a nature hike in the woods behind Iggy's house. We had a system of watching over Ari and it was Fang's turn. We all wandered, with Fang at the back with Ari, and Max in the front, trail blazing like usual. We ended up splitting up to look for this stream we knew about, but could never find.**

"**Max went by herself, I went with Nudge, Iggy went by himself, and Fang went with Ari. The rest of the story, none of us were there for, but apparently Max saw Fang **_**push**_** Ari into the stream. Max dived in after him while Fang found us."**

"**He looked like he had just seen a ghost," Nudge remembered the day just as well as Ella. She had always looked up to Fang and after that happened her respect and view on him had changed. **

"**I couldn't believe it when Max told us," Iggy said. "But Ari was put in the hospital so he couldn't tell us his side of the story. He was only three. All he remembered was being pushed into the river, so Max's story was justified." **

"**Even at ten years old Max overreacted," Ella said with a sad smile. "We figured that the whole story wasn't told, but you can't tell Max that. She was so angry at Fang and Fang was so pitiful after that. Soon, though, he turned mad at Max when he realized what she thought. They got into a fight, like a **_**real**_** fist fight. Max is strong and Fang doesn't give up, even against a girl," Ella said simply. **

**JJ looked at the four of them, a little shocked. Why would someone push a little kid into the water? It just didn't seem right to her. **

"**That just doesn't make any sense. No one would push a three year old into the water," JJ told them all. "Especially a ten year old."**

"**We know, but we just couldn't find anything that supported Fang," Nudge said, an unusually short sentence. **

"**We tried. We all were Fang's friends and didn't want that to be true. Even Max feels bad about it now. We can tell," Iggy explained. **

"**It's just, they both have too much pride to do anything," Ella admitted. " We've been planning on trying to get Max to see the light for the past year, it's just not a good idea. Ari doesn't remember, but he still claims Fang didn't push him in."**

"**That's tough," JJ told them all. They nodded silently, all of them reliving the day and reliving their own takes on it. "Wait, but what about parents? I mean, that doesn't just happen without consequences."**

"**That's another thing," Ella said slowly, "Max got mad when the adults didn't believe that Fang pushed him in. They didn't press charges or anything because he was just ten and they figured Ari slipped in. Them saying that made Max even more determined that her story was true, and even more mad at him."**

"**So it's not just that. It's also a 'who's wrong' and 'who's right' type of thing," JJ figured. **

"**Yes, that's exactly it. It had always been that way with Max and Fang, even when they were young they always argued about who was right and who was wrong," Iggy told her. **

"**What I don't get," JJ said, "is why you guys think Max is right." That was like THE question. The four of them never discussed it. They didn't know why they all chose to stick with Max instead of Fang. Luckily, they were saved. **

"**Hey guys," Max's voice startled them out of their tense story. **

"**Hey Max!" Nudge exclaimed enthusiastically. It was a good thing she did that too. It gave all of the others a chance to recover. Nudge also knew she was the only one who could get away with that much enthusiasm without suspicion. **

"**Whoa, who gave Nudge candy?" Max asked with a smile. **

"**Guilty," Iggy raised his hand and covered his face. Max smiled at them, a knowing smile that they didn't interpret correctly. Little did they know she had heard the whole thing.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! Thank you all for the reviews, I'm so excited you like my story! Anyways, quick thing, I must apologize for the last chapter being bold and underlined and the possibility of the same thing happening to this chapter. I really don't know why it does that, but I'm determined to find out. So, without further apology:**

Dear Bored with Life,

School is not my favorite place. I mean, It's not that I have no friends or anything, it's just that I'm not like my friends. I don't mean to sound melodramatic or like I'm special or anything, I just feel like they never understand what I'm actually trying to say. They take a lot of my words and turn them into a joke or something and I don't try to correct them. I feel like I'm not actually me. Can you understand that? That's one of the reasons I want to go out and travel the world because no one will know who I am, where I'm from, or anything like that.

My brother and sister are very…innocent? I think that's the right word. I don't exactly look innocent, especially compared to them. They are blonde even! My parents seem to think that I will have the tendency to get in trouble or something, but despite what anyone says, my record is clean. Okay, sorry for the rant there, but it's nice to type this out.

So what are your top favorite colors and what is your favorite flavor of ice cream? I don't think I'm supposed to tell you my gender, but I'm going to break the rules. I'm a boy. I think it would be pretty hard to narrow me down out of over three hundred kids.

Your Pen Pal,

Looking for a Life

P.S. Do you have any siblings?

I finished his letter with a lot more sympathy for this boy. I knew the feeling he was talking about. I didn't have the same one at the moment; my friends knew me well. I was just…a little bored, I guess. I felt like everything was too repetitive.

After hearing everyone's conversation at lunch I realized that this was never going to go away. I decided that I needed to either forgive him, or excuse him or else I would be stuck with that story for the rest of my life.

I just didn't want to forgive him, I wanted him to beg me for forgiveness, but I knew Fang. He was definitely upset with me. We got into a freaking fist fight! When we were eleven! I also took his best friends away from him. He had to find all new friends that I was sure didn't click with him perfectly.

"Max?" Ella's voice called from the row of books behind me.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Nudge is ready. You coming?" Do I have any other choice? I asked myself, getting up from the table and heading over to Ella.

"Yeah, come on." I replied quietly. We walked out of the library and down the deserted hallways. Nudge had tennis practice after school today and I had wanted to stay in the library to do some homework. Ella had a student council meeting.

"So…" Ella started, trailing off. That meant she had an idea.

"Yes?" I asked her dryly.

"I was thinking-"

"Seriously? Congratulations!" I clapped my hands in mock excitement. She glared and me and then continued on again.

"Like I said, I had an idea for something we could do on Friday!" She told me excitedly.

"What?" I perked up. Going out and do something different sounded fun to me.

"Well, there's this free concert that a radio station is hosting. We don't really know the band, but it's going to be like a huge carnival with face painting and go-carts and all of that fun stuff!" She explained.

"That sounds great!" I replied with more enthusiasm than normal, and no sarcasm. Ella looked at me for a minute confused.

"What, no sarcastic comment?"

"You didn't ask for one," I rolled my eyes at her and pushed the doors open.

"When do I ever ask for one?" She pointed out.

"I read signs."

"Hmm, never thought of that one," She smiled at me. I smiled back and we made it Nudge's car. I climbed in the back, letting Ella take the front.

"She said yes!" Ella sang to Nudge.

"Yay!" Nudge jumped up and down in her seat, "We should so make this a group thing! We'll invite JJ and Iggy and anyone else who wants to go! I bet a lot of people will be there anyways, but-"

"That would be awesome," I cut her off before she could really get into talking. "But first we have to make it through the week," I said solemnly.

"Always the bearer of bad news…" Ella trailed off, shaking her head.

"Eh, what can you do?" I smiled. We chit chatted a bit about projects and school for the rest of the ride until Nudge pulled up to Ella's house. Then Nudge slowly pulled out of the driveway and turned to me.

"Guess what?" Nudge asked.

"You're a nut?" I guessed.

"Well, that too," I chuckled, "But Iggy asked me out!"

"Seriously?" I asked her, shocked. Iggy didn't normally act on those things.

"I know!"

"Well, have you guys thought about what this would do to your friendship?" I questioned her seriously.

"Duh, of course. We decided that we're going to take it real slow, and if either of us have doubts, we'll just go back to being friends," Nudge smiled. I realized she was really, really happy about this.

"Why didn't you tell Ella?" I asked her.

"She's been really weird about Iggy lately. I'll say something about him and she'll just get real weird," she explained. I nodded as if I knew nothing, and we pulled up to my house.

"Okay, see you in the morning Nudge," I said.

"See ya!" She shouted out the window. I walked up the driveway, surprised to see an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

"Mom!" I called, walking in the house.

"In the kitchen," she replied, an octave quieter than me. I walked into said place, and froze.

"Max!" The two kids squealed running over to me. I held my arms open.

"Angel, Gaz? What are you two doing here?" I asked them.

"Mommy came over to visit and we wanted to see you!" They exclaimed to me. I smiled, surprised and happy to see them.

"Max, it's been forever since I've seen you. Look how you've grown!" The black haired and blue eyed woman smiled at me from a barstool.

"Mrs. Wren, it's nice to see you," I replied automatically, accepting her offering of a hug. For a minute I had déjà vu back to when I was ten and used to come over to her house all of the time.

"Your mom and I were just talking about you," she smiled again warmly. I returned the smile and sat down next to her.

"Oh, you were?" I asked her, looking at my mom with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, we were thinking how she could use some help with the kids while Nick's soccer season startes up and how you could use some extra money," she explained.

"Ah, I see."

"Would you like to baby sit the kids sometime?" Mrs. Wren asked. I pondered it for a moment, knowing it would be too rude to refuse. I wouldn't really run into Fang at all, and I could get to know the kids again. I smiled and agreed. Maybe this would be the first step into getting over the past.

**If anyone has any ideas, feel free to tell me, I love ideas! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


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